EDITORIAL
ST RECOVERIES
List of sales tax
defaulters continue to rock the assembly session after
session. This issue refuses to die down. The powers that
be continue to reel out the figures and the list of
defaulters as just one of those repetitive things sans
any impressive action that can carry some conviction. It
obviously reflects insincerity which is more inclined to
subserve vested interests than make any effort to effect
the recoveries. It has been often repeated by the Highest
Courts, ''Howsoever mighty and strong, the law is above
you''. But it seems in this State all defaulters who
matter are above law. The power apparatus has the habit
of quoting the small fries from whom partial recoveries
are effected. But as far as the big whales are concerned,
there is willy-nilly acquiescence with the defaulters. It
is no consolation to know that so much revenue on this
account has been collected during the year which is more
than the previous year or record breaking collection.
That is meant to befool the gullible. One would have
appreciated some definite action for effecting recoveries
from those who wield enough of political clout or who
have been part of the power apparatus at one or the other
time. Most of such default occurred when they themselves
ruled the roost. So one can put them in category of
'political defaulters' and deliberate for that one. They
have been aware that law cannot reach them because those
assigned the task of enforcing it continue to have
excellent rapport with them. One can as well say that it
is lack of political will to take on such of the
defaulters for fear that it would open Pandora's box of
corruption at the highest level. In fact, one such
defaulter had indeed threatened to 'spill the beans'. May
be in some other context. It is this fear of erstwhile
mili-bhagat that comes in the way of substantial action
for effecting recoveries.
The second category refers
to those who have greased the palms handsomely for
closing their files, diluting the cases or making it just
a token affair. Here one can raise accusing finger on the
bureaucracy which has been hand in glove with tax evaders
and defaulters. In essence, many of those who facilitated
luke-warm treat may have retired or even left the
good-earth. It is equally possible that their
band-masters in the political hierarchy do not permit
them to lay their hands on so and so. Net result of such
pusillanimity is that legal measures are not resorted to
effect the recoveries. In some odd cases where it is
done, the case is diluted and delayed to make mockery of
the ritual because by the time some verdict comes
through, the business establishment might have been shut
down in perpetuity. No case can be pursued to its logical
end unless the concerned officials/ departments want it.
And the latter simply feels more comfortable by sitting
over it. When bureaucrats are mentioned it does not mean
all are corrupt. But majority being fully corrupted, one
odd honest person is like a fish out of water. He may be
compelled to swim with the tide or face wrath of the
superiors in terms of inhospitable and unremunerative
posting.
There is yet another
category which is more powerful than even the ministers,
politicians and bureaucrats. They are their offsprings
who happen to be law unto themselves not only in tax
default but virtual immunity from even criminal acts.
This kith and kin business is a troublesome one and quite
painful for that matter. When a ruling minister was given
unflinching evidence and poser asto his brother being
terrorist or hand in glove with the militants, pat came
the reply from him, ''Well, not only me. Entire family
has nothing to do with him. We have all disowned him''.
So if a terrorist kin can be disowned so casually, it is
very easy to disown tax defaulting kith and kins. How one
can proceed against one's mother, sister or son?
From the above it is
evident that this Government or any other Government,
predecessors included, are in no position to reel out the
desired facts. Their attempt is to answer what is already
known and sidetrack other relevant information asked by
the legislators. Half-truths and half-lies makes a real
cocktail from which the powers that be derive sadistic
pleasure. If one is honest and sincere none can prevent
these power wielders and bureaucrats to not only launch
meaningful recovery proceedings in the competent court
but also attach properties and confiscate other assets of
the defaulters. Nothing of the sort has happened nor
there is any liklihood of it happening in future for the
very simple reason that there is always something more to
it than meets the eye. The fact is big fish remains scot
free and to that extent list of major defaulters remain
the same summer through winter every year. One would like
to see definite movement forward under the law of the
land. Sales tax is an amount which has been charged by
the defaulters from the customers but not remitted into
Government treasury. This explains large accumulated
amounts. Not only the principle amount on account of tax
should be realised forthwith but due interest must be
charged from such defaulters. It is the list of
recoveries made in full from the big-fish that must be
presented in the assembly and not the same old rituals of
repeating the list of defaulters.
PER CAPITA ASSISTANCE
There is something very
informative and interesting in the figures provided by
Home Ministry regarding per capita assistance given to
Jammu & Kashmir State by the Centre during last
fiscal. One has no reason to doubt authenticity of these
figures which reveal some Rs 6000 per capita assistance
to the State from the Central coffers. This is both on
account of plan funds and non-plan expenditure under
various heads given to the State. The total amount comes
to Rs 4603 crore in a single year. This is inclusive of
the reimbursement of Rs 300 crore on account of security
related expenditure but exclusive of the astronomical
amounts spent on defence forces located in the State.
There are many special schemes under different ministries
which provides specific funds to the State. But only plan
funds are raked up in terms of delayed release, miserly
treat or partial one. Nothing is mentioned about the
other receipts from the Central coffers under one or the
other head. For instance plan size last year was pegged
at 1750 crore but total receipts in terms of all types of
funds is given at 4603 crore which when translated into
per capita basis comes to Rs 6000 per head. The average
size of the family taken as five, the amount per family
received and supposed to have been utilised and spent
thus comes to Rs 30,000 during single year. It looks to
be reasonable enough to kickstart removal of poverty and
illiteracy besides other deprivations. It is all the more
reasonable to surmise that such annual assistance having
been funnelled into the State right from dawn of
independence should have transformed face of the State to
make it poverty-free and fully literate. That has not
happened. Yet the State often claims miserly treatment by
the Centre. It would be quite prudent to own at least
partially whatever has been happening in the State as
regards judicious utilisation of Central funds and
'invisible results' thereof.
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Haj
pilgrims assured hassle-free trips
By D K Arora
The unprecedented
disaster caused in Gujarat by the last week's
powerful earthquake and the consequent
postponement of charter flights to Jeddah has
disrupted the elaborate arrangements made for
pilgrims by the Mumbai based Central Haj
Committee. From January 31 and February 7, there
would be no charter flights to Jeddah from
Gujarat. February 8 flight from Ahmedabad would
leave as scheduled. New dates for the postponed
flights would be announced later.
The Civil Aviation
Ministry had earlier assured the pilgrims a
'hassle-free' journey. As many as 72,000 pilgrims
will have travelled to Jeddah and back between
January 27 and April 8 this year.
This year a
relatively unknown Kampuchea Airlines has been
given the contract to ferry 51,500 pilgrims on
168 flights from Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai,
Calcutta, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Six Lockheed
L1011 300-330. seater aircraft have been leased
from Kampuchea Airlines to ensure that no Air
India flight is disrupted. Last year the American
Migos Aviation Group was awarded the Haj
contract. However, Migos was blamed for the
miseries faced by the pilgrims who were forced to
remain unattended for upto three days due to
delayed fights last year.
The authorities
are attaching much importance to the special
arrangements they have made this year with the
Saudi Arabian Airlines, which would transport
approximately 20,500 out of 72,000 pilgrims being
sent by India's Central Haj Committee. Since the
Saudi Arabian Airlines would operate flights from
Mumbai and Kochi directly to Madina and back,
authorities here feel that this would leave them
with enough scope to take care of the remaining
51,500 pilgrims at the overcrowded Jeddah
airport. ''We have definitely learnt our lessons
from last year's experience. The arrangements
last year were somewhat inadequate,'' Mr Sharad
Yadav, the Civil Aviation Minister, has admitted.
Appointment of a
new ground-handling agent on the recommendation
of the Indian Embassy at Jeddah is another step,
which would help in hassle-free return of Indian
pilgrims. Besides, senior officials from various
departments of Air India have been deputed to
Jeddah for better coordination.
Mr Yadav, who
visited the newly created Haj Terminal at the
Indira Gandhi International Airport to oversee
the arrangement, announced a list of steps
envisaged by his ministry to ensure that the
Indian Haj pilgrims' journey this year is smooth.
These include adding Hyderabad as the eighth
embarkation point, remote check- in to avoid
congestion at the terminals, staggered check-in,
installation of special X-ray machines to reduce
the processing time, baggage transfer under bond
and colour-coded stickers for easy
identification.
Besides, the
flights are being scheduled to depart from Delhi
between 11 am and 7 pm so that there are no
delays on account of foggy conditions. To ease
the congestion at the Delhi Haj terminal, eight
check- in counters six immigration counters and
two customs counters, have been set up. An X-ray
scanner with three frisking booths and a conveyor
belt has been provided for the Haj pilgirms in
the 675 sq metre security hold area.
The Chairman,
Airports Authority of India, Mr D V Gupta,
informed that besides the four-month long Haj
operation, the special terminal would be used for
charter flights and courier and cargo services
during the rest of the eight months. This would
also help the Airports Authority of India earn
some more revenue from the terminal.
Special
arrangements have also been made outside the Haj
terminal building for visiotrs who come there to
see off the Haj pilgrims. There is a shed for
visitors where a 1,620 sq metre platform for
prayers, a separate room for VIPs and a cooler
for drinking water have been provided. The
parking area can accommodate 12 coaches and 175
cars, including 25 cars belonging to VIPs.
The new Haj
Terminal in New Delhi, created at a cost of Rs
2.35 crore, is expected to cater to about
one-third of the total number of Indian pilgrims.
The 3,155 square metre terminal with several
modern facilities created to cater to the
specific needs of the Haj pilgrims was rated by
Mr Yadav as a successful experiment, which he
said his ministry would like to extend to all the
major embarkation points in the future.
Approximately
26,000 pilgrims are scheduled to use Delhi as
their embarkation point and would be transported
aboard 89 flights. The corresponding figures for
other cities are 4,967 from Bangalore (on 16
flights), 3,057 from Chennai (10 flights), 5,450
from Calcutta (18 flights), 3,876 from Hyderabad
(13 flights) and 7,245 from Ahmedabad (22
flights). The first phase of transportation,
which commenced on January 27, would continue
till February 26, while the second phase of
return journey is scheduled to take place from
March 9 to April 8.
Air India has also
finalised plans to operate 10 extra- section
flights from Mumbai with its own aircraft- one
direct, eight via Kochi and one via Bangalore.
The national flag carrier would re-route 22
scheduled flights via Jeddah, two will be
operated via Chennai.
Inda expects to
fully utilise its enhanced quota of 120,000 this
year, although it could manage to send only about
110,000 pilgrims last year. The number from India
has been rising steadily over the last few
decades. While the figure stood at only 22,000 in
1959, it was 30,900 in 1995. The Saudi Arabian
authorities increased Indian quota by 29,000 in
1999, from 91,000 to 120,000.
While an Indian
Haj pilgrims is supposed to pay Rs 12,000 towards
airfare, the federal government is expected to
provide approximately Rs 20,000 as subsidy per
pilgrim for a return ticket this year. The
Government paid a total of Rs 13.7 crore as
subsidy last year to the Air India from its
Consolidated Fund, prompting several other
religious groups to demand subsidies on their
pilgrimage. The Central Government, asserting
that they are duty-bound to help Muslims
undertake their pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, while
other religious groups are not required to travel
abroad for this purpose, however, has turned down
their demand.
Despite the best
efforts by the authorities, serious doubts are
already being raised about any dramatic
improvement in the overall situation with their
questionable decision to take on lease half a
dozen aircraft from Kampuchea Airlines after
cancelling the contract with the American group.
Justifying the
decision, the Civil Aviation Secretary, Mr A H
Jung, said that Kampuchea's Lockheed L1011
aircraft are much younger at the average age of
20 years instead of 28-year-old Migos aircraft
used last year. The Kampuchea Airlines, which is
registered in Bangkok, was selected through a
global tender. ''Besides quoting the lowest
fares, Kampuchea Airlines passed all other
parameters''.
The decision
was taken by a committee, comprising
representative from the Ministry of Civil
Aviation, Ministry of External Affairs,
Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the
Central Haj Committee and Air-India. -CNF
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In
schools lie our hope
ACADEMIC PULSE
By Prof. S
K Bhalla
Education
at the School level is pivotal to the
maintenance of a rich culture despite the
accumulated noise of rabble-rousers and
image makers blurring the lines with
their prescriptions. According to V N
Narayanan.'' Education was never seen as
the acquisition of linguistic expertise
and technical competence but as a
training of the human mind in assessing
and abiding by the shared moral meanings
of humans in society''. Our own education
system by becoming examination-oriented
has become the biggest stumbling block to
genuine learning.
Rtd Chief
Justice of India, J S Verma not very long
ago stressed the need for inspiring the
youth with great and noble ideals and
what he said is equally applicable to our
schools going populace. He wonderfully
remarked- ''in the great and exciting
life ahead of you, do not make darkness
thy light and evil thy good''. These
truths are eternal and that is why human
civilizations have made it a point to
hand on what they have understood and
learnt, at great cost to future
generations.
So the
dire need for moral education in an
environment of drug abuse, alcoholism,
broken homes, rootlessness and child
labour. But it has been seen that what
passes for moral education in most
institutions today is either too bookish
or ritualistic. According to a
microscopic minority of concerned
teachers schools do not take moral
education seriously. Moral science is not
a separate subject in many a case. In
schools there is daily morning Assembly
followed by a short talk. It ends with a
thought for the day. In still other cases
moral education is lecture oriented with
teachers covering the syllabus within the
stipulated time. By the end of year,
examinations are conducted and the
students get a grade. Marks are not
counted in the final result. In such an
environment students hardly pay much
attention to what the teacher is
teaching.
The need
of the hour is some kind of incentive to
draw the attention of students towards
values such as honesty and goodness which
again cannot be measured through marks
obtained in an examination. Some other
teachers maintain that values cannot be
imbibed merely from books. Book education
must be complemented by a lot of
extra-curricular activities in this
direction. Through the field projects
like imparting education to children of
economically weaker sections or helping
them in other ways can be of immense help
in this direction.
The other
day we were informed by a national daily
that although the marks obtained in moral
science in some schools are not counted
as academic excellence, students doing
well in ''dharam siksha'' do get some
grace marks if they perform poorly in
other subjects.
A word
about a Degree College in our State shall
not be out of context here. Govt College
for Women, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu in this
very session restarted a novel experiment
of conducting morning Assembly on every
Saturday to strengthen the moral fibre of
taught. To the utter chagrin of
discerning observers it was seen that by
and large the attendance of students
started growing thinner on Saturdays as
it was felt that morals are required upto
school level and beyond that the
principle of fun and frolic should be
followed in letter and spirit. An example
of live commentary of the times in which
we are dwelling.
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Explore
talent at school level
By Rajesh Dhar
Talent is what you
possess and genius is what possesses you.
Different talents are seen in different fields
and at different levels but geniei are rare. When
you have the talent you can prove yourself in any
field and at any level. And when you are genius
like Surinder Singh Bagal (an ambidextrous
cricketer from J&K) then nothing remains to
be explained.
The Herculean
achievements of Surinder Singh Bagal at lower as
well as higher levels in cricket and now his
inclusion in the 25 member Indian Cricket
probables for the series against mighty
Australians to represent India at the highest
level; the gritty gymnast Sonia Sharma's
excellence to make it to the international level;
Superb performances of the State's Hockey Players
to qualify for the quarter final stage in All
India Level Hockey Championships held at Hakhu
Astroturf Stadium Jammu some months back; the
State's historic entrance into the prequarters
stage in Ranji Trophy Championship this year; and
the extra ordinary performances of the school
boys to trounce into the quater finals of the
46th National School games in the discipline of
football in the month of January 2001 is a clear
indication of improvement in the standard of
games and sports in the State.
It is a matter of
immense pleasure rather a feeling of extreme
bliss and ecstary that Surinder Singh, a man from
remote village of our State has found a place in
the Indian National Cricket Squad. He achieved
this milestone after proving his talent in
domestic cricket especially in the recent Ranji
Trophy and the Duleep Trophy to get the selectors
nod.
Sonia Sharma is
another versatile player of our State who made it
to the international level in the discipline of
gymnastics with her extra-ordinary motor ability,
sharp reflexes, anticipation and above all with
her ready wit and ambitious grit. Our State has
produced many other stars in the past in
different disciplines of sports like Ranjeet
Singh Chib in handball who captained India more
than once and brought laurels to the country and
to our State in particular. And there are lots of
youngsters in the State like Vikrant Taggar and
Anuradha Sharma (Cricket), Sudhir & Indu
Raina (Softball), Sakshi Kotwal (Gymnastics),
Mrinal Tandon and Shweta Vaid (Swimming) etc. who
are sports persons to a perfection and obviously,
have a potential to excel at any level, if
provided a healthy sports atmosphere.
J&K's entry
into the prequarters stage in the Ranji Trophy
Cricket Championship of 2000-2001 is worth
praising. The credit of this performance besides
players, coaches and managers goes to the mambers
of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association
(JKCA), which left no stone unturned to make such
a performance possible. It was JKCA which
initiated for Jadeja's affiliation with the State
who in turn was resonsible for showing the side a
winning way. He was the man who inspired the
cricketers of our State and helped them to
exploit their talent upto the optimum level.
The entrance into
the quarter finals of All India Level Hockey
Championship at Hakhu Astroturf Stadium, Jammu
was one of the biggest achievements of the year
2000 in the field of sports. This stadium is a
big asset to our State which provides
infrastructure to budding hockey players in order
to create a niche in this field. Construction of
a stadium of this stature in our State was mainly
possible by the extra-ordinary efforts made by
the Hockey Federation of India (HFI) Jammu and
Kashmir Hockey Association JKHA besides State and
the Central Govt.
Recent performance
of our State in 46th National School Games
Championship in the discipline of football at
Jammu organised by the Department of Youth
Services and Sports under the auspices of School
Games Federation of India was more than
satisfactory as the J&K School boys reached
to the quarter final of the championship where
they were defeated by the little winners, Assam.
What was more delightful in this championship was
boarding and lodging arrangements made by the
hosts for the participating States at Youth
Hostel Nagrota which has the capacity to
accommodate almost all the States of our country
in one discipline of sport. This hostel is also
an asset to our State which provides comfortable
stay to the players, coaches and managers.
Keeping all the
performances in mind one can say it with
confidence and command that the Department of
Youth Services and Sports, the Jammu and Kashmir
Sports Council and other Associations are making
best efforts to improve the standard of sports in
the State but only these efforts are not enough,
if we really want to produce the players of
international calibre like Ranjeet Singh Chib
(Handball), Sonia Sharma (Gymnastics) and
Surinder Singh Bagal (Cricket). The need of the
hour is to explore the talent at school level.
For the matter, it
is a matter of immense satisfaction that the
Department of Youth Services and Sports is going
to tap talent at gross root level by taking steps
to ensure compulsory involvement of all Govt as
well as private schools in all sports
competitions organised by it besides forcing the
private schools to deposit the games fund with
the department. The more satisfying thing is that
the Director DYSS, Syed Asgar Ali who took the
charge of the department recently is committed to
promote sports at school levels as he knows that
the right age of joining and improving the
standard of the game is the childhood. And if the
students are made to practice the game of their
interest at school level they can bring good
results and good name to the State and to the
country.
The good thing for
the promotion of sports in the State is the
declaration made by the Director that the State
teams for participation in all national level
meets in all sports disciplines will be selected
only after holding district, regional and State
level competitions and before sending a team for
any national meet a three weeks conditioning camp
will be held. Earlier, it has been observed that
there were loopholes in the system. Let's hope
for the best now.
Moreover, it has
also be observed in the past that any sports
person who had shone at the higher levels is
because of his personal efforts and not by the
efforts made by the sports departments or
associations, so, such sports persons who earn
name and fame to the State deserve to be
encouraged, appreciated, awarded and rewarded for
their achievement because encouragement and
appreciation is the highest motivation.
If such good
players had been given a chance to represent the
State at a younger age there would have been more
chances of their bright future. But unfortunate
thing is that in our State we do not concentrate
to exploit the talent of the students at school
level.
Suridner Singh
Bagal who created history by getting birth in
Indian National Cricket Squad fell prey to the
same policy. So, he must be thinking himself
unlucky for not getting this chance before some
years when he was young, energetic and in his
peak form or simply the fast bowler to a
perfection. The main reason behind his late entry
into the national squad is his late entry into
the State squad. The reason for his late
selection in the Ranji Squad was simply that he
was from a remote village, there was nobody to
back him and above all our State does not
concentrate in giving exposure to the players at
a young age. I though a letter to the editor
Captioned - "Favouritism in Selection"
published in Daily Excelsior in Oct. 95 had
flayed Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association JKCA
for not including this gutsy left armer to
represent the State at the time of his peak form.
At that time nobody was ready to hear me as the
selectors at that time hardly knew how a bowler
bowls and a bater bats because the selctors then
were just two in number who were assigned this
job by the court which had to interfere after the
JKCA was fractured and defunct. When the members
of the selection panel were lacking cricketing
knowledge, it was obvious to see nepotism and
favouritism in selection which made the entry of
this tall bowler impossible.
This 25 year old
left arm pace bowler is not the only player to
suffer from such unhealthy policies of J&K
Sports as there are many other quality sports
persons in our State whose talent is not
exploited at the young age.
Unless and untill,
our State does not make efforts to explore the
talent at a grass root level, to expect the
improvement in the field of sports is to cry for
the moon.
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Power
Sector Policies tilted against the Public Sector
By N.S. Vasant
The Prime Minister
is absolutely right. Private entrepreneurs all
over the world are getting increasingly involved
in infrastructure development and India can
scarcely hope to be different. Yet, it is also
correct that this Government and the previous
Congress Government have gone along with a set of
policies pertaining to power projects which is
excessively tilted in favour of private
entrepreneurs and blatantly discriminatory
against the public sector.
The rationale for
inviting private investment in the power sector
is that India badly needs investment in
electricity generation and since the public
sector is starved of resources, such funds have
to come from the private sector. Since private
companies - including multinational corporations
- are not going to invest money because they
believe in philanthropy, the Government has to
create a 'conducive' environment to ensure
'reasonable' profits for these promoters. This
has effectively meant that the Government
provides sovereign counter-guarantees for such
power projects.
The above
arguments appear unexceptional. The problems,
however, arise because of the simple fact that
electricity is highly subsidised to certain
categories of consumers. In addition, all state
electricity boards (SEBs) are grossly overstaffed
and incur huge losses. The total commercial
losses of SEBs have gone up more than three-fold
over the last decade: from around Rs. 4,000 crore
in 1990-91 to nearly Rs. 14,000 crore in
1999-2000.
In this period,
the annual subsidy on account of sale of
electricity to agricultural and domestic
consumers has gone up from under Rs. 5,500 crore
(less than half of total Central Plan assistance
to states) to almost Rs. 27,000 crore (85 per
cent of the amount).
Successive
governments have emphasised the establishment of
new power generating capacity instead of reducing
transmission and distribution (T and D) losses.
Against an international norm of 10 per cent,
between one-fifth and one-fourth of the total
electricity generated in the country is either
lost or stolen. T and D losses are relatively low
in Maharashtra (around 15 per cent) and
exceptionally high in states like Delhi, Jammu
and Kashmir and Orissa (at half or close to
half).
The reason why
India's netas and babus prefer new power
generation projects instead of reducing T and D
losses is not merely because they love cutting
ribbons and laying foundation stones. They also
love kickbacks and commissions which are not
available for mundane activities like catching
those who steal power or taking to task officials
colluding with consumers to cheat the Government.
Since 1992, when
the Government allowed the establishment of
private power projects, the policy framework has
been skewed towards assuring profits to promoters
of new power projects instead of ensuring that
electricity is provided to consumers at a low
cost. This is the crux of the controversy
surrounding the Dabhol power project of the US
multinational, Enron.
The Dabhol project
had earlier been rejected for financing by the
World Bank because of the absence of competitive
bidding. This is the same World Bank which, in
its infinite wisdom, has made the public sector
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), its
single biggest corporate customer. It may be
recalled that the only important economic policy
decision taken by the 13-day Vajpayee Government
in May 1996 was the furnishing of a sovereign
counter-guarantee for the Enron project.
The truth is that
sovereign counter-guarantees for privately
promoted power projects can never be a substitute
for reforms. To undertake reforms, a number of
tough decisions have to be taken. After all, it
is not easy to sack surplus employees of SEBs who
are there because certain politicians in the past
wanted to favour their friends and relatives.
Similarly, those
shouting the loudest about the virtues of
privatisation should explain why privatising
electricity transmission, distribution and
billing has been so tardy while the Government
has bent over backwards to accommodate the whims
of private promoters of power projects.
Could the inaction
be explained by the fact that privatisation of
billing and collection of electricity dues could
drastically reduce theft? Is it a fact that poor
slum-dwellers are not responsible for the bulk of
the T and D losses in the capital but wealthy
owners of factories and air-conditioned houses?
Is it not much simpler to bribe an employee of
the Delhi Vidyut Board to rig one's electricity
meter than to have a system in which everyone
pays his share?
There are eight
so-called 'fast track' power projects which have
received sovereign counter-guarantees. The total
capacity which may get eventually installed by
these privately-funded projects would equal two
giant power plants set up by NTPC using equipment
supplied by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
(BHEL), another much-maligned public sector
undertaking. Of the eight fast-track projects,
three (including Dabhol) have been implemented;
three are in different stages of implementation
and it is not clear whether two projects would
see the light of day.
The capital cost
of the Hindujas-promoted Visakhapatnam project is
at least Rs. 400 crore higher than a comparable
project at Simhadri being set up by NTPC. The
Simhadri project, started in 1997, is scheduled
to be commissioned soon. The Hindujas' project,
on the other hand, is currently embroiled in a
controversy over the opinion furnished by
Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee on its
requirements for 'due diligence'.
The common factor
in all the power purchase agreements signed for
these fast-track projects is that the balance is
weighted heavily against the SEBs and in favour
of the private promoters. The former bears most -
if not all - of the risks (including the risk of
currency exchange rate fluctuation) which the
latter is assured of their returns. The Planning
Commission has calculated that if all SEBs
receive a 3 per cent return assured to them under
the provisions of the Indian Electricity Act,
they would earn Rs. 16,000 crore.
In the case of the
Dabhol project, the balance is more heavily
tilted against the Maharashtra SEB because of
three additional reasons. One, the project is a
'base load' power station and not one for 'peak'
loads. Two, the PPA is so lopsided that the MSEB
is forced to take Dabhol power first and then
cheaper power available from existing plants
(contrary to the directive of the state
electricity regulatory commission). Thirdly, the
first phase of the Enron project is based on
expensive liquid fuels whose prices have
skyrocketed in recent months.
It is perhaps not
a coincidence that four illustrious individuals
are no longer employees of the Enron group. One
is former vice-president Linda Powers, who told a
US Senate sub-committee in January 1995 that her
employers had spent a handsome $20 million
(around Rs. 60 crore at that time) to 'educate'
Indians about the Dabhol project. More recently,
three senior executives who had been closely
associated with the project, Joseph Sutton,
Rebecca Mark and Sanjay Bhatnagar, have left
Enron. Closer home, former Economic Affairs
Secretary in the Ministry of Finance E.A.S.
Sarma, who had consistently opposed sovereign
counter-guarantees, was abruptly transferred.
Apologists for
Enron such as columnists like Tavleen Singh and
Gurcharan Das, not to mention US Ambassador
Richard Celeste, have been claiming that if India
reneges on its contractual obligations, this
could scare away other foreign investors. It
seems it is okay if the telecommunications policy
is turned upside down, not the power policy. It
hardly matters if various countries scrap
contracts with private power companies (including
Enron). We in India are different. We stick by
our word, even if we get a lousy bargain, if not
a bum deal.
The other argument
is that if Maharashtra buys all the power Enron
has on offer, the price would come down. Thus, if
you buy a monthly railway ticket and you travel
only one day in a month, you are a fool. A more
apt analogy would be the one used by a reviewer
of Abhay Mehta's book on the Dabhol project. If
it costs you Rs. 20 to take a three-wheeler to
office and return home, should you hire an
imported limousine run on foreign fuel which will
wait outside your office all day and which costs
you Rs. 2,000?
Mr. Prime
Minister, in your great adventure to modernise
the country's infrastructure, spare a thought or
two for NTPC and BHEL which were built with the
savings of the people of India, the blighted
nation whose interests have been sold down the
drain time and again by traitors in our midst.
INAV
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